The Angst Team
by Shark8
Summary: Zelgadiss Greywords, Ryoga Hibiki, and Peter Parker as SpiderMan have been prophesied to save the world from a piece of Shabrandigo that the Mazoku are trying to free. Magic, might, and cunning all collide as they try to save the world in an adventure.
1. Dark Storms Rising

The Angst Team

Intro 1: Dark Storms Rising

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Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers, although I may someday work up the courage to write the people that do, try to get them to let me publish a Slayers novel, and be rejected unceremoniously.

Please Note: Superscripts, assuming they hold their formatting, denote author's notes, such as explanations of what may appear to be arbitrary divergence from the 'normal' Slayers continuity, located at the end of the chapter.

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As the wind blew across the bleak landscape they would pick up dust and swirl it in random patterns. There was nothing of any real note about the brown, dry, and almost lifeless desert, except for the single character walking purposefully through the wasteland. The figure was clothed in a much lighter brown than the surrounding earth, the pants, shirt, and hooded cloak looked to have seen their share of travel but upon closer inspection they were in good condition. Aside from the garments and a functional looking sword the traveler carried very little, all he had he carried in a rather small bag and several pockets.

The individual in question looked human enough from a distance but, upon closer inspection, one would find that he was defiantly not normal. First off his skin was a dark blue color, almost black, one would say, and it was actually tougher than leather. Secondly, his skin was flawed with what resembled grey-green stones in both texture and strength, although their appearance was much too regular and symmetrical to be any sort of disease or other type of blemish. Lastly, his hair, most of which was hidden under his hood, was silver with a blue-amethyst undertone and had a stiff, wire like appearance.1

Zelgadiss, sometimes called Zel by the few friends he did have, was a chimera… a hideous combining of equal parts of human, stone golem, and brow demon, these were what gave Zelgadiss his appearance, he considered it to be the bane of his existence and was constantly, well-nigh obsessively, in search of a cure to his condition, a condition that his grandfather/great-grandfather was responsible for.

That was definitely something unusual, the Red-Priest Rezo was his great-grandfather on his father's side and grandfather on his mother's. The blind priest had always been in search of a cure to his blindness but had never found it. That had been one of several almost ironic similarities and parallels that Zelgadiss was beginning to see in his life as compared to the priest's. They had both shown a great talent for magic at a young age, both had been cursed with something they found unbearable, and neither of them had found a cure. 

Although Rezo had somehow lost his sight and his memory of sight early in his life, he'd adapted by using magic and creating new, previously unimagined, spells to cope with the loss of his sight, such as a spell that allowed him to 'read' books, signs and the like. Zelgadiss had created several spells of his own, and he was extremely talented in shamanistic magic, one of which allowed him to project the illusion that he was a normal human for a short time.

Zel looked single-mindedly at his target in the distance, by taking this route instead of going around the unlivable desert he'd cut the travel time down to three weeks from the original six months it would have taken him otherwise. He never would have made it in a truly human body but he'd gotten used to this one's capabilities and used them to the utmost advantage, he didn't realize that he was doing 'the humanly impossible' on a regular basis, his hatred of his form blinded him to the benefits almost all the time. The lead he was following was not far now, only a day's journey in Zelgadiss's estimation. He resisted the urge to pull out his sextant and shoot another azimuth to determine his position again. While it was rather easy to get lost in the desert a quick glance behind him showed that he was following a reasonably straight path. 

Zelgadiss replayed the scenes back in the old town where he'd encountered this new hope for a cure.

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Zelgadiss spoke clearly yet softly and the spell calling on the power of Fire and Air took shape and pressed against his flesh. The spell wouldn't last long and could be disrupted rather easily, but it should afford him the opportunity to move about the town below freely. Zelgadiss looked at his hands to make sure the spell was working and was greeted with a pale flesh color, like that of someone who had been indoors for the majority of their lives. Nodding with satisfaction Zelgadiss started down the game trail that led down to the awaiting town.

Zelgadiss was greeted by several of the folk, they didn't see many travelers except for those in the merchant trains that ran between the northern and southern kingdoms. Here in the midlands the 'kingdoms' tended to be rather loosely knit, mostly to stave off the occasional mid- or high-level monster, most villages and towns not even knowing which kingdoms they belonged to existed primarily to protect themselves, and by extension their kingdoms, from the raids of low-level monsters.

Zelgadiss's eye was drawn to a small shop that seemed to have some old, and possibly ancient, books. Zelgadiss's hand unconsciously tightened its grip on his sword, there were some ancient knowledge that had been lost, or sealed away, that could help him to regain his human anatomy. Zelgadiss checked the weight of the coins in a pouch in one of his pockets, it should be enough to purchase whatever he found of interest in the little shop, if anything.

There was an elderly man tending the counter when he came in, and judging by the man's movement to rub the sleep from his eyes, had probably linked the door to a spell to wake him up. The man was tall, thin, and probably a retired wizard of middle rank. "Ah, how can I help you son?" The man asked with the genuine twinkle of a humanitarian. "Eh, what's this…" the man gestured, muttered a few words that made Zelgadiss's eyes go wide, "Flow Break!" The old man had finished before Zelgadiss could tell him to discontinue his casting. "Oh my." The old man exclaimed as he pushed his glasses up his noes.

"I see." The old man said after a moment of awkward silence. "Either monsters have taken to casting illusions or you're one of those poor souls some overblown sorcerer used for his chimera experiments before they were banned, oh, forty years ago." The man offered a friendly smile, surprising Zelgadiss.

"Yes, the latter." Zelgadiss said as he pulled his mask up to cover everything under his eyes out of habit. It wouldn't do to have strangers see him as most thought him to be some sort of monster. 'Although this has been my form for less than ten years.'

The old man sighed hearing that, "I'm sorry I can't do anything for you..." The man sounded genuinely disappointed. "Wait, there's a small clearing just north-east of town... my master, Galvanaas was one of the pioneers of chimera research, had a laboratory there, you may find something in there. Be careful though, he left that place with more traps than the Diraker treasury."

Zelgadiss nodded, pausing to address the shop-keeper with a "Thank you" as he exited the small shop. He made his way out of the small town quickly, though not so quickly as to arouse notice and when he'd finally broken into the forest he began searching for the laboratory.

After several hours of searching the chimera began to think that the old man had lied to him , but his eyes didn't show anything in the way of deceit. 'Well,' Zelgadiss sighed, 'I wonder…'

"Levitation!" Zelgadiss cried, causing the spell to carry his two-hundred seventy-six pounds into the air defying gravity.2 Zelgadiss closed his eyes for a moment, almost as if he were listening to imperviable sounds, then opened them suddenly and began casting another spell, still in midair.

"Rune Flare!" Zelgadiss gestured as multiple rockets of light flared into existence at his hand and flew in lazy arcs to impact the general area where he'd indicated with the gesture. Moments before the majority of them would have hit the ground they winked out of existence, or rather seemed to, as the sound of their self-containing explosions reached his ears Zelgadiss smiled. 'That's no trifle illusion with the area it's covering, and rather skillfully laid if I can't detect the spell.'

Slowly releasing the levitation spell Zelgadiss drifted back toward the earth all the while marking the area that marked the border of the magical illusion. Settling on the ground without a sound Zelgadiss brought his hand up to his chin as he contemplated the best solution to the problem. Using a common dispel would likely trigger other spell activations. He knew from experience the danger and difficulty of chained spells, the truly complex had kept even his grandfather from penetrating several wards in his quest for sight. Luckily for Zelgadiss all the great mages that could leave such complex spells were long dead and this could only be one of the simpler ones. 

Zelgadiss settled on Obfueria Koraka after he noticed the twinges of Fire and Earth in the illusion. While illusions could be built of other Elements Fire and Air were the most commonly used. Obfueria Koraka was a spell of his own creation which could best be described as a combination of Demona Crystal and Astral Break and its use of Water and Spirit would counter the Fire and Earth he felt in the illusion. Reading his stance, Zelgadiss began his chant, gesturing to the region that hosted the illusion.

There was a bright flare as the Spirit and Water energies encountered the illusion and tore it to shreds revealing a clearing with what looked like a rotting cellar door in the middle being guarded by two Ashlar golems, mid-level golems related to the Stone golem.

The two golems eyes seemed to flash as gathered a red light and began to move. Zelgadiss was about to cast Dug Break, a specialized version of Flow Break for golems, when he realized that the golem spells were chained to a Blast Ash spell which would cause a black void appear where the golems stood and anything alive or possessing a spirit in the void's radius would be turned to ash. Zelgadis guessed that the radius of the Blast Ash would be quite large in this case… after all if he had designed the golem's defenses he would have done something similar.

Zelgadiss quickly changed tactics, drawing his sword, he quickly cast Astral Vine to increase its effectiveness on the magical creatures before him, though in all honestly he had to dodge while finishing the spell as one of the golems rushed at him producing a sizable stone in it's hand and throwing it at him.

Zelgadiss jumped high into the air, flipping up into the branches of the trees behind him, though shortly after landing he heard a cracking sound, his substantial weight being too much for the branch, and thought, 'Oh, Bloody Chaos!' as he fell.

The golems closed in on his position, one advancing, while one hung back throwing the large earthen projectiles. From his research on golem construction, and he _had_ done a lot of it, intelligence was one of the more difficult aspects of developing a golem, a self-sufficient autonomous one anyway. He needed to revise his approach, again. 

Zelgadiss reached behind his back and pulled out a dagger with his left hand, smiling in a determined way as he drew back and released it just as he finished the spell. "Shadow Snap!"

The dagger protruded from the earth where the golem who was using ranged attacks fell, pinning it and preventing most movement, all Zelgadiss would have to do to remove himself from the golem's fire would be to simply move out of its current range. The other golem had other ideas though, sensing it's partner's predicament it rushed at Zelgadiss to crush him with a powerful double-handed downward blow.

Zelgadiss barley managed to evade with what would be considered mild acrobatic skill. Despite the Ashlar golem's stonelike appearance they moved quite fast, almost as fast as Zelgadiss himself. Zelgadiss doged a backhanded swing as another large stone came hurtling his way, hoping to buy a little time, Zelgadiss flipped in midair and kicked the nearer golem into its partner's fire.

Gaining a split second as the golem stumbled before regaining its balance Zelgadiss started the rather unorthodox spell he'd learned from his apprentice swordsman a few month ago, before he'd been summoned by mysterious superiors. The Makushirue3 Riposte was truly an ingenious work of shamanistic magic, the gestures were few and its rather simple words, in the common tongue no less, made it perhaps the most unique spell he'd heard or learnt.

"Fire of Spirit, I beckon you to my hand; Spirit of earth, return to your rest; Barrier of Fire sever these bonds that bind…!" Zelgadiss spake with the mental tug at the golem's pseudo-soul and a push at its physical body as he finished the spell, "Makushirue Riposte!"

The golem shuddered and its body ceased to have an animated look as its 'soul', or rather what passed for one In a pure golem, it's motivation was drained out and its body slowly started to crumble to the ground as if it had been a dry old statue once made of mud that was now parched and cracking.

Zelgadiss blinked as he realized how much the spell had taken out of him, not in the way of magical power, but in mental. He felt like he'd been awake nearly a day longer than he had not sixty seconds ago.

The remaining golem flung yet another projectile at him. Dodging out of the way, Zelgadiss, ran as he dodged a flying stone yet again. Zelgadis didn't dare use the Makushirue Riposte again, it would have taken a lot out of him, too much to risk when he didn't know what other traps were within the laboratory. Now that he didn't have to dodge two golems, Zelgadiss was free to move about the clearing trying to get out of the golem's arc of fire.

A few moments later Zelgadiss was behind the golem's back and preparing a couple spells to take care of it. Gathering the Earth magic Zelgadiss cast a Dug Haut, causing a slight earthquake as stalagmites shot out of the ground at roughly even points encircling the Ashlar golem. Zelgadiss quickly followed up with Ly Briem, encasing the golem and its earthen prison in a chunk of solid ice, thus effectively neutralizing the golem.

Zelgadis let out a breath as he scanned the area with his eyes for enemies, and then again for any magical traps. Finding nothing of note he went over to where he'd fallen from the tree, picked up the branch, and made his way down the stairs.

Just before reaching the limits of the outside light Zelgadiss used a simple fire spell to light the branch. He'd forgotten to get torches while he was in the town, and while he didn't particularly _need_ them with magic at his disposal, he'd rather use magic for something important. He was a magic using swordsman, not a sword using mage.

As Zelgadiss's eyes adjusted to the sudden increase in the light Zelgadiss was surprised to see the passage in front of him filled with a fog or mist that suddenly stopped a few feet from where he was standing. He couldn't sense any magic holding the fog back, but he could see it's effects. Zelgadiss briefly wondered if he should cast a fireball down the passage to see what would happen, then decided against it, he could very well destroy what he was looking for. Besides, he didn't want his name to be synonymous with terror like his friend, Lina Inverse's was.

Bracing himself, either to jump up or back or drop to the floor, Zelgadiss stepped through the boundary of the mist. Nothing happened for a few seconds, so, he pushed on, until his makeshift torch snapped as the fire reached some particularly wet portion of the wood and he dropped it jumping back.

He hadn't realized it but the mist was definitely starting to get to him, he couldn't see any reason for its presence and that grated at his mind however he tried to ignore it. He had heard of something like it, but years ago, and he hadn't actually been paying attention at the time.

Zelgadiss decided that it would be prudent should he expedite his search. Quickening his pace to something less than a jog but more than a power-walk Zelgadiss almost missed the sealed doorway. It was mechanically sealed and not magically, which surprised Zelgadiss, he hadn't seen anything about the lab to suggest the monetary resources required to install physical security like this.

Zelgadiss simply pulled out a small padded package from one of his pockets, unrolled the contents, and looked through the picks with the eye of a professional. Selecting one, he slipped it into the keyhole as he grabbed another and put it in at an angle to the first. After several false starts the key unlocked and opened revealing a small round dial embedded into the door. Zelgadiss had to smile at that as he grabbed his makeshift stethoscope, two pure mechanical locks, whoever owned this lab was paranoid of other magic users.

The door finally opened to a short almost antechamber-like passage that was filled with bookshelves on the walls. The books looked like they might be interesting, though Zelgadiss doubted that he would find anything among them now.

The main room of the laboratory was quite cluttered, various chemicals and mixtures were in seemingly random locations, and the benches were littered with notes of all types, subjects, and ages. There was one reminding the writer that there was a town meeting he wanted to attend, another stated that the results from a test were favorable, yet another seemed to contain a half finished spell that was hastily written. The last one Zelgadiss had picked up was actually a sheaf of notes held together with a bit of wire that had been twisted into an elongated spiral and flattened.

Flipping the half-writen spell back revealed a map, and the n there were notes on an Obelisk at the far edge of the desert through a pass in the mountains just south-east of his position. There also seemed to be several pages of notes in an unintelligible shorthand. Though the last two were quite readable, one gave specific conditions for a certain summoning, and the other was a fairly detailed plan for a chimera with something scribbled about two bodies needed in the corner.

Zelgadiss put the entire set of documents in his pack and left the laboratory. The hallway was no longer filled with the foggy mist. The walls were dripping wet and the floor had almost enough water to splash, Zelgadiss guessed that was all that remained of the fog, but this somehow didn't feel right, and not just because it was cold enough for him to see his breath.

Making his way purposefully back aboveground, Zelgadiss noticed that the water level seemed to be getting higher, as his boots splashed little droplets of water with each hurried step, until finally the water was up to the soles of his boots and audibly splashing the legs of his pants with icy-cold water.

Zelgadiss was relived to see that the golem's prision had melted almost minimally, but what had melted was draining down the stairs and into the underground passage. Zelgadiss almost laughed in his relief, the reason everything had seemed wrong down there was because the golem was linked to the laboratory by a strong magical link. The magic imprisoning the golem had 'bled' into the area that the golem had been tied to.

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Now, as he made his way through the desert, he hoped that he would be there in time to investigate this obelisk. He looked to his right as he thought he heard chanting, not the singular intonation of s single voice, but the polyphony of a crowd of voices, coming from a giant dust cloud.

Ten minutes later he was sure of it. The chant was musical but still a chant, in a language he'd never heard before, and was punctuated by the sounds producing some complex rhythm. Curious as to what might be going on Zelgadiss began walking toward the dust cloud.

As he got nearer to the dust cloud he could see that the dust was being stirred up by a vaguely human shapes engaged in a complex ritual. They each held a long spear or staff-like object and mirrored each other's moves so perfectly that Zelgadiss could almost have sworn that they were all puppets tied to the same strings.

When he finally could see the gathering clearly, despite the dust being stirred up, he was surprised at what he saw. They were Ophidians, relatives of the snake-men, who were known for their willingness to help mages, for a price. They were considered to be the mercenaries of the magic world as they sold their services freely to any who would pay and seemed to have no inherent loyalty. Which made seeing two of the reptilian creatures working together extremely rare… much less the five-to-eight hundred that were here now.

All of them had an alpenstock tipped with a ruby set in Orihalcon and intricately worked with a gold pattern in what appeared to be a redwood shaft. It was with these instruments that they were scratching a pattern into the ground with their ritual, creating a sound like a thousand feet being dragged across the dry earth at the same time. There was an eerie rhythm to the practice as the Orphidians simultaneously thrust their alpenstocks into the ground and continued the ritual without pause.

Zelgadiss almost jumped when he saw that they were fashioning a Magic Arc, not that Ophidians didn't construct Magic Arcs, Circles, and Squares, but the sheer size of it… it was huge. And the patterns were definitely unique compared to any he'd seen, except for those on his grandfather's giant Magic Circle.

"Ah! Hello there!" Zelgadiss whirled at the voice. "You've made it just in time. I was wondering if you would make it… but then the prophesies _did_ say you would be here." An old man in long black and red, or were they red and black, robes with a long grey beard and a pair of glasses perched on his nose looking very much like the caricature of a wizard.

"Prophecies." Zelgadiss wasn't sure if he wanted to know what prophecies this old man was trying to link him to, so hi simply didn't make it a question.

"Yes. You are the Dark Warrior, and the prophecies said you would be here to see your companions summoned." The old man grinned, gesturing at Zelgadiss's near black skin, as he offered his hand. "I am Galvanaas, _Mage Extroplier_." 

Zelgadiss's eyebrow reached upwards, _Mage Extroplier_ was one of the top ranks in the Rankin Guild. As far as he knew only two others besides his grandfather had received the title which meant that he would be quite formidable if he were to turn out to be an enemy.

"Zelgadiss Greywords." Zelgadiss introduced himself.

"Come," Galvanaas smiled and gestured for Zelgadiss to follow him as he led away. Toward the Magic Arc's focal point. "Things are about to begin."

Galvanaas and Zelgadiss reached a slightly elevated obsidian pedestal nearly eighty feet in diameter and as Galvanaas led Zelgadiss to the side opposite the Magic Arc Zelgadiss noticed that everything had become quiet, the Orphidians had stopped their chant and the dance-like moves with the that stirred up dust with their alpenstocks. Galvanaas gestured overhead, to the sun. Zelgadiss looked up and saw that the moon was about to cross the sun's face resulting in a solar eclipse.

As he stood there, the sky slowly began to darken, and the Orphidians began to hum a short five note musical phrase which the repeated until they suddenly stopped. After a pause of exactly two and a half heartbeats they began chanting a single spell.

Zelgadiss suppressed the involuntary shiver as the air suddenly turned icy and the Orphidians finished their spell binding the air itself to their Magic Arc. The air had almost darkened to it's full extent, and Galvanaas began a single spell of summoning. The Magic Arc was gathering both the power of shadows and the power of light that fell into this large area of the desert, the area that it covered was glowing red and giant bolts of blue-white energy crackled along as it redirected them into the Magic Circle inscribed into the obsidian pedestal which was beginning to glow with a soft green light that reached up a foot from the surface of the dark surface.

Zelgadiss couldn't imagine how all this power was being pushed into a single summoning spell, this much power could easily kill every living thing on the plain of Ganthar and here it was being used for a single _summoning_!?

Things were almost finished when a growling voice yelled "You've meddled enough old man! You will not be allowed to challenge the resurrection of our lord Shabrandigo."

Zelgadiss watched in shock as a high level Mozoku seemed to step out of thin air, threw it's hand forward, and launched a silver ray at the old man as he finished the spell, or rather ended it, instead of a full summoning that would pull the summoned beings through it was as if a door had been opened to be stepped through.

The Orphidians massed around the Mazoku and attacked all at once with an Elemenkia Lance, and while that high level of a Mazoku could stand up to a single Elemenkia Lance nearly eight-hundred was a different matter as the creature died a sudden and yet painful death.

One of the Orphidians stepped up to Galvanaas and practically begged Zelgadiss to heal him. "Massster sssaved tribe! Massster wasss good to usss, never treated usss badly like our cousssinsss. Massster mussst sssurvive to inssstruct companionsss. I would try to heal massster, but Massster'sss Orphidiansss only know ssspirit ssshamanisssm." The creature nervously flicked out a tongue.

Zelgadiss was somehow touched by the loyalty the Orphidians showed to the old magician, he wasn't greatly skilled with healing magics as he almost never needed to use them himself. Zelgadiss decided to do what he could as the Orphidians watched in an almost tangible concern for their master. They never saw the two figures emerge from the summoning.

  


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Author's Note #1: Zel's skin is a dark blue in the novels, almost black, I've only seen the anime, but I thought it'd be better to go with a dark-blue Zel for this fic rather than the pale-blue of the anime. I also wanted some leeway in case of inconsistency with the anime and other resources as it's a somewhat different universe. This also gives me a little play-room with Zel's back-story, and Rezo's as well, something that I feel will prove indisposable in the future of this story. (Besides, it'll be fun!)

Author's Note #2: I didn't chose 276 lbs arbitrarily. I took 138 pounds, a reasonable weight estimate for Zelgadiss who is an inch or two within my height, and he's a little more muscular than I (I weigh about 130). Anyway, I divided his weight into two halves and multiplied one half by three as stone's density is thrice that of water, giving my 207 lbs, to which I added the unmodified half, resulting in a grand total of 276 lbs.

Author's Note #3: Makushireu is supposed to be the 'Japanization' of the name Maxwell, if anyone has the actual syllabary spelling of it please drop me a line.

Misc. Notes: I'm thinking of italicizing spell names, both spoken and otherwise. I think that it may help readability, but then again it could be distracting, what do you think?

Comments & Criticisms are not only welcome but encouraged as I don't do much serious writing. Also even there are three intros up I would like reviews on each separately, that way I can find out what I'm doing right and what I'm not. Thank you.

efish@cs.nmsu.edu


	2. A Brief Ray of Light

The Angst Team

Intro 2: A Brief Ray of Light

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Ryoga looked around the small antique and oddity shop, he was looking for some trinket to give Akane when he finally returned to the tendo dojo. There were some things he thought Akane would find interesting, an old painted wood carving, a small china figurine, but a medium sized ornate clock is what caught his attention he most. It was worked in ornately intricate patterns and the materiel looked like wood but felt more like a metal when he picked it up to examine it. The clock was heavy compared to today's lightweight plastic electronics, but it still would work when the electricity was knocked out, an occurrence that was very common at the dojo, and to a lesser extent Nermia itself, with the extensive property damage they frequently incurred.

Ryoga was placing the clock back when he noticed something it had been sitting on, a map folded into a small square and bulky compass. Ryoga picked them up after setting the clock down, he smiled sardonically at the irony of his finding a map and compass. He laughed, he couldn't help it, it was just too funny to him… the Eternally Lost finding a map and compass, his laugh gained the edge of hysteria.

"Oh, I see you've found it." The young proprietor of the store said from right behind him, scaring him into silence. "You know that map's supposed to reveal the location of a magical treasure…"

"Oh, then why haven't you found it." Ryoga asked, suspiciously.

The young proprietor, no more than eighteen or nineteen, laughed, "Oh, believe me I've tried. Mr… "

"Hibiki Ryoga."

"Well, Mr. Ryoga, if you open the map you'll see it's in runic. I've tried to decipher it, as has everybody else in my family, but all any translation turns out is gibberish. I'm beginning to think that it's just some old Viking's idea of a joke." Ryoga's eyes went to the runes.

"Really, and the compass?" Ryoga asked, he tried to stay away from magic after his… accident at Jusenkyo, but perhaps it was also the key to his cure.

"That thing? I found it a while back in a garage sale, I tried to open it, but it seems I'm not quite that strong." the boy said shrugging, "The case makes it look like it's carved from stone, but the hinges are stuck. Even if it doesn't work it's a good display piece."

"How much do you want for the clock?" Ryoga indicated with the compass, still thinking about the map and compass as the boy named a figure. "How about…" Ryoga named a slightly higher figure for the clock, the map, and the compass.

The boy's eyes lit up. "Deal!" he said excitedly.

As Ryoga left the store he wondered why he'd bought the map and compass, the map he could understand, sort of, as it might hold the cure to his curse. But what about the compass, what had possessed him to buy the compass. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the compass and looked at it. It looked like it was carved from stone because of it's cover, but under the small viewhole he could see the compass's inner workings spin as they tried vainly to zero in on their destination. Ryoga tried to open it for a few minutes but the thing wouldn't budge, which was rather surprising considering his strength.

'Boy, he wasn't kidding when he said it was stuck.' Ryoga thought, wondering about how he could open it the Baksai Tenketsu immediately sprang to mind, but that would destroy it unless… 

Ryoga focused his ming as if in preparation to use his Baksai Tenketsu, the 'Breaking Point', on the object and when he saw the point in his mind, instead of hitting it with an extended forefinger tried prying at the point. It was all to no avail though as the compass remained adamant in it's refusal to open.

Ryoga angrily thrust the compass into his pocket and pulled out the map. Opening it up, he immediately started reading the runes. Nobody who knew Ryoga's traveling habits would have been shocked that he was fluent in every major language on the planet but they never would have guessed that he could read, write, and speak several dead ones as well. 'I never thought getting lost in that university in Greenland or Iceland or wherever it was would have been helpful. I wouldn't know runic if I hadn't been in that classroom for most of a semester and a half.'

Ryoga started to read the runes aloud. Something sounded familiar about the words he was saying, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Then he came to a word, a name, Cursebreaker. Ryoga couldn't believe it as his hands shook with excitement he looked at the map trying to memorize it and see if anything on it was familiar at the same time. It was all a futile effort a small voice screamed in the back of his mind but he was so close he could almost feel it. He would never have to turn into a pig again, and maybe, just maybe, he could cure his directional curse as well.

* * * * * * * * * *

Ryoga looked around, he was somewhere in a forest, he didn't know how he'd gotten here. He'd been so busy trying to absorb every detail on the map that he hadn't paid any attention to where he was going. 'Not that it would make much difference, I get lost even when I am paying attention to where I'm going.'

Ryoga sighed as he folded his map and put it back into his pocket, walking along in random directions as he did so, he felt a vague sense of familiarity creep over him as he stepped out of the forest's edge and stared at the building in front of him.

"Furinkan Highschool…" Ryoga said as he blinked in surprise, he hadn't even been trying to get here this time… and wasn't the shop he'd just been in located in Australia, just north-west of Florida?

Well, as long as he was in the area he could wait for Akane to show up and give her the clock. He took his pack off, sat down, and began to set up camp within eyesight of the front gate.

The beans weren't exactly the best he'd seen, but they'd been cheap and he'd bought ten pounds or so when he was in Mexico the other day, before making his way east into France and then on to Nigeria.

Ryoga settled down to watch the stars come out as the beans cooked, wondering why the runic words had sounded so familiar aloud when they were just gibberish, the few real words not fitting grammatically into any coherent thought.

* * * * * * * * * *

'I'm sure Ranma and Akane will show up today…' Ryoga thought on his third day at Furinkan, then he thought for a moment and pulled out the small day planner he had in his pack. "What!?" He exclaimed as he looked through the book. "It's June second!! The school's closed for the summer!"

Growling about the wasted time being Ranma's fault Ryoga started packing his camp back into the pack. "Now I'll spend a week trying to find the dojo, and with my luck they'll all be gone on a family vacation." Ryoga thought rather dismally as he finished packing the last of his things.

* * * * * * * * * *

The semi drive pounded on the brakes again to no avail. His truck was out of control and he couldn't stop, barely holding back panic he toggled the engine brake, effectively turning the huge Diesel engine into a giant air compressor. Inertia still reigned, and with that many tons he would be going for some time. The driver watched in horror as a young man with dark brown hair stepped into the street directly in front of him. The driver let out a gasp as he herd the *thunk* 'Not good. Definitely not good. Even if those basterds cut my break lines, but when I blew the whistle on their drug operation I knew it could come back to haunt me.'

The driver was interrupted as his truck began to buck wildly as potholes began appearing right in front of the tires. The tires blew and began to smoke amid the whining screech of metal on asphalt. The ride would have battered him senseless if he hadn't been wearing a seatbelt, as it was it just knocked his bones together and made him feel like he'd been through a wringer.

* * * * * * * * * *

Ryoga didn't know what he'd done to be hit by a semi-truck, but it sure hurt. 'Damn, I think I dislocated my shoulder.' Ryoga thought as he tried to rotate his left arm, complaining when almost any other person would be thanking God that they were still alive.

Ryoga had felt the sudden pain and had almost panicked before he got the idea about Shishi Houkodaning the road to stop the truck. He was glad he had though, as there was only about fifty feet until the road ended, and while the ditch would stop the truck it would probably also have killed Ryoga and whoever had been driving.

As things stood, Ryoga thought abought trying to find Dr. Tofu's place. Ryoga coughed and fell to his knees as the adrenaline left his system and he puked the lunch he'd just eaten onto the ground. No, things seemed to be much worse than he'd thought as his brain now received signals of varying intensities of pain from everywhere on his body.

"Today is not my day." Ryoga said as he collapsed beside the puddle of vomit.

* * * * * * * * * *

Ryoga woke to find himself staring at the ceiling of some hospital, in Tokyo he presumed, considering where he last been.

"Ohhhh…" He half groaned, half moaned as he struggled to get up, soreness surging through his body, despite whatever painkillers they'd given him.

"Ryoga!" A female voice excitedly stated upon seeing him move. "Look he's getting up!" There was a slight thwacking sound as whoever it was hit someone else it get their attention.

"What?" Ryoga said dizzily as he blinked hard, trying to keep the room from spinning and turning blue, he turned over to see who it was that was visiting him in the hospital.

"Akane!" Ryoga nearly shouted as he finally recognized the young woman standing next to his bed.

"Hey! Ryoga, man!" Came another female voice. "It's been a while since I've seen you! I bet you had to get yourself run over by a truck just to save you form humiliating yourself when I beat you up again." The redhead said in that overconfidently, arrogant, cocky, and yet somehow friendly way that was unique to Ranma Saotome.

"Ranma! He was just hit by a truck!" Akane yelled at Ranma before Ryoga could tell him to shove it, then emphasized her statement by hitting him in the face while screaming "You idiot!"

"Ouch." Ryoga said, wincing at the mere sight of it.

"Oh! What's wrong Ryoga do you need me to get a doctor?" Akane changed from furious to concerned so quickly that it scared hm.

"Uh… n-no." Ryoga said, "I'm fine really!" Laughing to try to show that he really was, his head repaid him by with huge sweeping waves of pain and nausea. "Ohh-hh…" Ryoga resisted the urge to grab his head as he moaned.

"Are you sure, you look kind of pale man." Surprisingly Ranma sounded concerned.

"Yeah, I'm ok." Ryoga said as the pain faded, "Where's my pack?" Ryoga asked, changing the subject."There was a present for Akane in there…"

"Yeah, Ryoga. I think…" Ranma started, looked around and didn't see it. "I thought it was around here. I'll go ask."

"I'll get it." Ryoga tried to swing his legs over the side of the bed but found them unresponsive. "My legs," Ryoga chuckled a bit, "I can't feel my legs!"

Ryoga was about to reach hysterics with another scream of "I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!" as Akane tried to calm him down and explain that the doctors had put a spinal-block on him that still needed to wear off when one of the doctors came in.

"Ah, Mister Hibiki." The doctor began, "I see you're finally awake. Quite frankly, we're not sure why you simply aren't dead and how you were hurt only so little, being run over by a semi-truck and all."

A fresh doctor, evidently they hadn't gone over tact at his school or perhaps he'd just slept thought the class on bedside manner, either was the results were the same. Ryoga let out a string of curses in a dozen languages, and although Akane couldn't understand a word she got the general meaning behind the words.

"Why don't my legs work?" Ryoga finished when he couldn't remember how to say 'shit-ball' in Russian.

"Ah, we temporarily paralyzed you when the anaesthesia was ineffective, and you wouldn't stay unconscious long enough for us to get on with the operation and finish it up." The doctor laughed nervously at the glare Ryoga gave him.

"How long?" Ryoga asked, almost emotionlessly, which was somehow scarier than when he was cursing the doctor's pet's lineage in German and his mother's brothers in Portugese.

It was about then that Ranma came in with Ryoga's pack, or rather pulling his pack on a dolly. "What do you put in here? Lead?"

"No, Ranma, just everything I own." Ryoga replied dryly as he pulled his backpack up into the bed with himself.

"Akane," Ryoga said after rummaging around in one of the pouches and finally pulling out the clock that he'd bought earlier. "This is for you… I thought you might like it… it won't stop working if the power goes out." Ryoga hated not being able to say what he wanted to the dark-haird girl, to tell her how he felt, to say the things he'd always wanted to but he was afraid, afraid of hurting Akane or of getting hurt himself. He could take boulders being hurled at him, but ironically his heart was incredibly fragile and he didn't want to break it… but he'd just been run over by a semi-truck, he wasn't invincible, and what if he never got the chance again?

"Thank you Ryoga." Akane said as she looked at him with pity in her eyes, no, wait, that's concern not pity.

"Akane, I, t-that is… I want to… wait, I-I" Ryoga started to say then finished softly, "I love you."

###############

Ryoga's Journal (Selected Entries)

Date: 5 June

Today I told Akane that I loved her. She didn't say anything at all, she just nodded and then walked out of the room carrying the clock I gave her. I think this may actually feel worse than when I imagined that she would laugh at me or tell me she hated me.

Ranma stayed for a bit longer before he had to go home. It's funny, I never thought that Ranma would be the one wishing me well. He laughed and said that I needed to get better soon so he could beat me up because everyone else easily beaten. It doesn't sound like something any normal person would say to their friend in the hospital, then again Ranma's far from normal, but I understand what he meant. He wants to see me well enough to fight like we have in the past.

One of the doctors said that the spinal blocker should wear off any time now, but he warned me that I shouldn't try to use my legs until he gives me the go-ahead. Apparently both of my legs were broken, my left leg suffered more, hell, my entire left side was screwed up. My left shoulder was dislocated, and a rib was broken while the rest were bruised pretty badly. I still don't feel too much of all this because of all the pain killers they put me on.

I hope I'll be able to get out of here quickly, the food's horrible and the fluorescent lighting is starting to give me a headache with that hum and the flicker is making me want to shishi hokodan the whole place.

###############

Date: 8 June

Ranma visited today, along with Nabiki, of all people, when Akane refused to come with him. We had a good talk. Ranma will be going back to China to look for a cure tomorrow… It seemed to me that Ranma and Nabiki are growing close. I won't say anything to them about it though, it's not my business, and I'd feel bad if something I did or said would break them up.

I wonder why Akane wouldn't come and visit me though, she always seemed to be friendly towards me. I don't understand, I probably never will either.

###############

Date: 12 June

Today, Yomada Jiro, the driver of the truck came by, apparently he had been detained by some witness protection program. He seems to be oddly at ease, especially when you consider how corrupt some of the witness protection programs are, like a man who knows his fate, accepts it, and still lives life.

He informed me that he's trying to get the witness protection program or his insurance to foot my medical bill. I had to laugh at that, it's easier to squeeze water from a stone than get either the government or insurance to pay anything.

It strikes me as odd that I don't feel any anger or animosity towards the man. I think that maybe he is punishing himself more than I ever could despite his calm resigned manner, either way I almost feel sorry for him. He seems like a nice enough guy, so I hope that he doesn't get himself killed with that fatalistic attitude, maybe I should teach him the Shishi Hokodan.

###############

Date: 7 July

Apparently the drug lords Jiro pissed off finally got him. Surprisingly he named me his heir in his will and with the sizable life insurance policy he took out on himself I won't have to worry about money for a while. Some people might think Jiro was weak, but I think he was the strongest man I've known.

I'm sorry to see him go, nobody I know would do something they would know would result in their own death simply because it was the right thing to do. Certainly not Ranma's father, Mr. Tendo, Kuno, or anyone else I know in Nermia. 

###############

Date: 11 August

Ranma's supposed to return today, the same day as I've been released from rehabilitation. The doctors were surprised, well amazed is more like it, by how fast I've recovered. It still seemed like forever to me, it's a good thing that the trucker's insurance picked up the bill for my medical expenses otherwise Jiro's life insurance would have just covered it.

I've decided to go on a walk in this nice small park near the hospital that I've come to like. I'll have to ask somebody to help me get there, though it's embarrassing to ask for help, if Ranma comes in before they kick me out today I'll ask him to take me to that park. I don't want to get lost until I've been there one last time. It almost feels like I'm being drawn there for some reason, I guess I've come to like it more than I realized.

###############

Ryoga looked up from his journal and put the pen away before packing the book in his pack. He wasn't sure about what happened with Akane.

"Hey Ryoga!" Ranma said as he walked into the room smiling, not the crazy I've-been-cured smile but the one that meant he was glad to see one of his friends. "Congratulations on your freedom."

"Ranma!" Ryoga got up, hefting his pack on his back and stumbling a bit. His left knee was still a bit weak, but in a few more weeks he was sure he'd be back to his old self. "I was just thinking about you… would you like to go walk in that small park that's somewhere around here?"

"You mean the one right across the street?" Ranma asked. 'I'm sure Ryoga'll be fine, if he could actually make his way there, then I'd be worried.'

Ryoga nodded indicating that was indeed the park he had in mind. "Yeah."

"Sure, why not?" Ranma agreed after a bit of a pause, and then started telling Ryoga about his trip into China.

It had turned out tho be pretty much a wasted time, except that there were about three or four rumors that they had disproved. Ryoga was slightly disappointed, though he had expected as much, it seemed that whoever had created the cursed pools of Jusenkyo had gone out of their way to make it as difficult as possible to remove the curses.

Ranma paused his account of his trip into China to look around the park, "I doesn't seem like much."

"No, it isn't, but I've found that I like it for some reason…" Ryoga replied smiling, as he used his umbrella as a cane and walked some distance into the park.

"It looks pretty plain to me." Ranma interrupted, apparently not realizing that other people had their own opinions. "I mean, look at that fountain, there's absolutely nothing special about it." Ranma indicated the small fountain with a cross carved in its bell-like shape. It was then that Ryoga realized why the fountain and the park had looked so familiar to him.

Flipping his pack off his back and setting it down in front of himself he pulled out the map and compass. The map showed the park, the oblong circle with the cross inside was the fountain. Excitedly Ryoga ran to the place indicated on the map, a small mound too small to be called a hill and as Ranma watched, vanished.

* * * * * * * * * *

Ryoga was shocked when he found that he was someplace else, the small cylindrical chamber he found himself in was about twice the size of a janitor's closet and in the center of the chamber resting on two pedestals was a sword. Not the curved like a katana or wakizashi, but straight like a western broadsword or bastard-sword.

Looking down at the map again he reread the runes, yes, Cursebreaker was the sword's name. He could feel it. His cure! He reached for it ans as soon as he lifted it from the pedestals everything faded back into the small park.

"Ryoga!" Ranma shouted seeing his friend reappear, then noticing the sword Ryoga was clutching he asked, "What's with the sword, man?"

"Uh, n-nothing!" Ryoga stammered. He wouldn't want to get Ranma's hopes up only to dash them, he told himself, although in all reality he didn't want to not be cured. He had a deep irrational fear that if he told Ranma about the sword, Cursebreaker, it wouldn't work for him.

* * * * * * * * * *

Later, in the apartment he was renting, Ryoga pulled at the blade free of the scabbard easily, it seemed quite natural in his hand, like it was meant to be there. The blade was a metallic blue, rather a deep solid blue at that almost like someone had painted the sword with a blue stain.

He'd never seen a blade this color, it called out to him to be touched to make sure it was real. As Ryoga extended a forefinger the blade seemed almost to leap, or ws it his finger that leapt, into the blade causing a cut that he didn't feel. Looking at his finger to be sure he'd really cut it he saw the blood well up and drip off of his finger. Several of the drops hit the floor, a few found themselves on his pants, but when two droplets hit the blue blade squarely there was a blinding flash and a wave of warmth that emanated from the sword.

Ryoga blinked a few times as the light faded, then looked at his finger, it wasn't bleeding anymore… in fact there was no evidence that there had ever been a cut. Then looking down at the sword Ryoga let out a startled yelp.

The blade was red, not an even coloring, but like blood covering aluminum that had been crumpled and then flattened out, and there on the blade in those metallic blue were English letters spelling his own name, Ryoga Hibiki.

This was weird, really weird. Suddenly Ryoga didn't feel at all sure that this was the best course of action. Pulling his pack on he ran out the door, only to immediately return, it might not be wise to leave the sword that now bore his name behind.

As he made his way out and down the stairs he found himself in what looked to be like a large supply closet stocked with pieces of advanced electronics or something of the like. Finally Ryoga found the door and exited the room, only to take three steps and be consumed by a bright flash of brown-yellow light that made his skin burn before the world seemed to fade into blackness.

  


* * *

Author's Note: Two intros down and one to go! Yay!

Comments & Criticisms are welcome.

efish@cs.nmsu.edu


	3. Into a Dark Storm’s Eye

The Angst Team

Intro 3: Into a Dark Storm's Eye

* * *

Disclaimer: Again, I don't own Spider-Man, or any characters that appear in this intro, Marvel does. I don't think that I could write a pure Spidy novel, one that was good anyway, but Peter David has written a couple that were quite enjoyable. Also may contain _some_ PG-13ish materiel.

* * *

Peter Parker found himself staring blearily at the clock, '8:30, I'm late!' He tried to get out of bed, but every muscle in his body screamed in protest with soreness. 'I wish I could just take the day off…'

Yesterday Peter had faced one of his most cunning adversaries, not as college student and newspaper photographer, but as Spider-Man. All the newspapers would have the complete story describing in detail how Spider-Man had saved the city from being blown to smithereens by Doctor Otto Octavius, all of the papers except one that is, the Daily Bugle, would no doubt be printing something saying how Spider-Man had set the whole thing up to make himself look good or that he was actually a criminal mastermind who was punishing a minion for trying to be insubordinate.

In other words, it was life as normal for the super-hero known as Spider-Man. It seemed to happen almost like clockwork, some crazy would get it in their head to destroy Spider-man for some obscure thing, like hitting someone's big brother to save a lady from being mugged... or worse.

Anyway, procrastinating wouldn't cause the problems to go away, in fact, it would only add more to his life when he was late for his Physics class with Doctor Connors. 'That's right, there's a test today… why couldn't it have been on Friday instead of Monday?'

With a sound somewhere between a groan and a grunt of effort Peter pulled himself out of bed and made his way to the shower, maybe some hot water would help get rid of the soreness. He leaned over and stretched his back feeling and hearing it pop in several places, at least he felt that much better.

He wasn't disappointed with the shower, it was incredible how much a little thing like a hot shower could help wash away troubles. After getting dressed in finding something to eat in his pitiful excuse for a refrigerator Peter Parker made his way to school.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Hey Peter!" A voice suddenly called, it belonged to a pretty girl with long blond hair. "I didn't see you yesterday at our study group."

"Ah, yeah, about that Stacy." Peter tried to think of a way to put it that wouldn't be lying, "I got tangled up in something I didn't foresee." Peter grimaced inwardly at his pun, 'tangled up' was definitely what you would have called that last fight though, Dr. Octopus certainly lived up to his namesake.

"Well, Peter, next time at least give me a call and let me know you're ok, I just worry about you Peter," Gwen Stacy laughed. "but then it's not like you're out there fighting against Mysterio and those guys."

Peter felt a sinking in his gut, he wanted to tell her that he actually was Spider-Man. He felt like a liar, he didn't want to be one, bu what else was somebody who purposefully laid a path of misdirection to try to keep secrets from somebody they loved?

'I'm not sure when it happened, but Stacy's become a very important figure in my life.' Peter thought to himself as he walked besides Gwen Stacy, daughter of Commissioner Stacy, 'I wonder how she would react if I told her… would she understand, or would she feel betrayed? I'm worried that if I do tell her I'll destroy our relationship, but I hate lying to her…'

"Peter?" Gwen asked as she waved a hand in front of his eyes.

"Yeah? Sorry Gwen I was just… thinking."

"Well, that physics test is today, so you'd better be thinking if you want to pass, otherwise you need to pay attention to what you're doing or you'll find yourself doomed."

* * * * * * * * * *

Victor Von Doom smiled underneath his metal mask as the American businessmen sweated profusely, they had foolishly thought that they would be able to embezzle money from his own investments. That he was here now proved that he would allow none to steal from Doom.

"Gentlemen, you have no options, you will return what you have stolen, resign from your positions, and then turn yourselves in to the local authorities." Yes, the local authorities would take care of these thieves for him.

"You can't do that! We have rights!" One of the business men shot up pointing at Doom and was about to say more when he was cut off by a plasma beam to the chest.

"I grow weary of your childish American games of legality." Dr. Doom said calmly, to an audience that was considerably paler. "This board will be replaced with people that I can trust to do their jobs."

The green caped monarch turned and left the frightened men with the sight of the green cloth billowing out behind him, this was just a diversion, a cover story, something to draw his opponent's gaze. Soon all would be ready and none would stand before Doom, certainly not those accursed freaks the Fantastic Five.

* * * * * * * * * *

Gwen was right, he didn't do nearly as well as he could have, he was just too distracted to think for some reason. 'I just hope today doesn't get out of hand like it did yesterday. Spider-Man could use a day off.' Peter thought as he walked slowly to his next class, it wouldn't start for another fifteen minutes.

"Hey Peter!" Harry Osborne called out, "How'd you do in Physics?"

"Alright, I guess." Peter said rather unconvincingly.

"Ah, I see. You didn't ace the test as usual, did you?"

Peter just stared at him., sometimes Harry could be surprisingly perceptive and other times he was denser that a neutron star. Peter laughed a bit at that and said, "Yeah, you hit the nail on the head, Harry."

"Well, don't get too bummed, my dad wanted me to invite you to dinner tonight." Harry said trying to make Peter feel better. "Oh, my dad found out, through the business buzz, that that Baron von Dim, or whoever, is in town investigating some of the businesses he's invested in, I'm sure if you got some pictures of him that penny-pincher Jameson would buy them."

Peter stopped dead in his tracks, the last time he'd run into Doctor Doom the monarch had offered him a job. Well, if you count destroying the Fantastic Five employment. "No thanks, not enough job security." He'd replied, taunting and angering the monarch. Then it had been a battle to stay alive until the Fantastic Five had shown up and the good doctor was forced to make a 'strategic withdrawal', as Doom retreats for no man.

Peter knew he'd find himself swinging on a web-line trying to find the armored sovereign and what he was planning to do on his stay. 'I'm a regular neighborhood watch.'

* * * * * * * * * *

Five hours, two hotdogs, a bus, and quick change of clothes later Spider-Man was swinging through the city searching for trouble. Unfortunately for him it wasn't the trouble he was looking for, the Rhino was pulling armored car heist, he wasn't stealing the money though, it was the gasoline he was after. Spider-man didn't blame him for that choice, with the prices of fuel these days… A couple of witty remarks and one rhino charge later the big guy was resting peacefully until the police came to provide a good bed for the big lug.

The next two hours went by with an extreme boringness. There wasn't even a mugging that he could find. Doctor Doom had covered his tracks well and Peter had a sinking feeling that he wouldn't find the trail unless he was meant to find it, and that only meant that it was a trap. What was it and him being used for traps, either as a test subject, target or, more rarely, bait anyway?

"I wonder what time it is?" Spidy said to himself as he swung up to the outside of a building to pull back a glove he look at the watch strapped there, it read five-thirty. "Oh crap! I'm late!" He muttered to himself as he remembered the dinner invitations from the Osbornes.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Peter!" Harry exclaimed as he opened the door. "I was beginning to think that you wouldn't make it."

"Right Harry, since when does any college student turn down free food?" Peter said with a smile.

Harry stepped back to let Peter through the door, "Well, I suppose if it was poisoned…" Harry began with one of his 'Hey-I'm-making-a-joke' smiles.

"Oh, that's reassuring." Peter said, playing along. He knew that the food wouldn't be poisoned, unless the Green Goblin, who was Harry's dad, Mr. Osborne, had found out that Peter was Spider-Man. The thought of the Green Goblin knowing that he was Spider-Man sent shivers down his spine, the Green Goblin was quite insane and quite intelligent too, that was what made him such a formidable opponent, Mr. Osborne on the other hand thought of Peter as a second son. Peter shook his head trying to reconcile the two persons, one a business savvy and humanitarian entrepreneur and the other a physically enhanced madman intent on furthering his own twisted goals.

"Ah, Peter!" Mr. Osborne greeted him with that friendly smile. "It's been ages since you've been over. What have you been doing with yourself these past few months?"

"Well, uh," Peter stumbled for a moment, "I got another job, as a research assistant to one of the professors at the university."

Mr. Norman Osborne gave a look of pleased surprise, "Another job? In addition to your photography… Peter if you keep up this kind of initiative and drive you'll go places in the world. Which reminds me… I have all of the pictures that the Bugle's printed, you do get some excellent shots of Spider-Man."

Peter restrained a wince, though just barely, he didn't want the Green Goblin to find out that he was Spider-Man. "Ah, You really don't have to do that Mr. Osborne…"

Mr. Osborne gave Peter another smile, "Nonsense, my boy, everybody needs a hobby."

Mr. Osborne ushered Peter and Harry to the back patio where he'd just finished grilling several steaks. He'd given the house staff the night off because he wanted to spend quality time with his son Harry and his best friend Peter Parker, the two boys had been so close that Norman considered Peter to be another son, but now something was pulling Peter away. Norman didn't want his family to disintegrate any further, it had been horrible with the loss of his wife, so he wanted to have some more 'family' time.

After the meal, Harry and Peter were helping to clean up when Norman was overcome with one of his migraines and had to go rest. "They seem to be getting worse." Harry noted to Peter.

Peter didn't want to say anything to Harry, but he suspected that the migraines were actually the Green Goblin trying to resurface and gain control over Norman. Peter looked at the painful grimace on Norman's face and wished that there was something he could do to help him.

'You can't let that armored monster take over Oscorp! Norman, listen to me, we can keep our power and teach that arrogant fool a lesson all at once.' The voice of the Green Goblin seemed to echo in Norman Osborne's mind.

'But, I… don't want to hurt anyone.' He tried to argue, sounding unsure even in his own mind.

'Is that really your reason? I think it's something else… you're afraid, afraid that you won't be able to stand up to him, but you won't have to my dear Norman, I'll stand up to him for you, all you have to do is let me help you.' Norman got the feeling that the Green Goblin would be smiling mischievously had he been able to see his face.

'Y-yes. I could do that, I'm glad I have friends like you… friends I can count on.' Norman answered, albeit unsteadily.

Norman got up and went over to the two college students. "I'm sorry boys, I wanted to spend some more time with you two… I hope you're not too disappointed."

"No, not at all, Mr. Osborne. It was a good time." Peter said reasuringly.

"Peter's right dad, you put yourself through too much, go on to bed and get some rest." Harry almost chided his father.

"Now you're starting to sound like the parent Harry." Norman smiled and chuckled a bit. "Yes, I think I'll go to bed, but first Peter I was thinking of making this a weekly event. Just a family diner where we can talk."

"Sure thing Mr. Osborne." Peter said agreeably, it was hard enough to keep the refrigerator in his apartment stocked, and Mr. Osborne was really a nice guy, when he wasn't wearing green that is. "Harry's right though, you look like you need to go to sleep."

* * * * * * * * * *

The Green Goblin cackled as he rose into the night sky on his ramjet-powered glider. "Oh, it's time that Victor von Doom pays for trying to move in on the territory of The Green Goblin."

The houses shrink quickly to specks as the Goblin rises in a steep arc towards an old abandoned factory just inside the city, one that has been recently purchased by an international company based in Latveria. There were times when being politically connected could get better results than all the other efforts you could possibly manage, and masquerading as Norman Osborne, the Green Goblin had pull with almost every city official, getting the results Peter Parker had not gotten in five hours with two simple phone-calls and five minutes of patience.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Parker! Parker!" J. Jonah Jameson, editor in chief of the Daily Bugle stuck his head out of his office and bellowed again, "Blast it Parker! Get in here!"

"Mr. Jameson?" Parker said, a bit timidly, though not as much as when he'd first been hired. 'I guess that's just because I'm getting used to him.'

"Parker, this is Mr. Eddie Brock… he's a new reporter, I want you two to investigate that old warehouse or factory or whatever it was that exploded last night, got it?" Jameson almost seemed like some commander in a world war two movie barking orders to his troops, and in some ways he was, though he'd vehemently deny it, he really was quite fond of the staff he worked closely with.

"Hiya." Eddy offered his hand and peter was mildly surprised at the muscular strength in the grip. "You're the photographer that gets all of those Spider-Man pics? Aren't you?"

"Well… yeah, that's me." Peter didn't like too many people asking about the pictures he got, it made him nervous that someone would put, what he felt was, two and two together. It amazed him that Jameson hadn't asked anything yet, but then as long as he brought in good pictures that sold papers Jameson didn't care how he got the photos.

"Nice to meet ya. Now c'mon, that story ain't getting any hotter." Eddy said, leading Peter out of Mr. Jameson's office.

"Now that's the kind of initiative I like to see!" J. Jonah Jameson grumbled to himself as he turned back to the paperwork… he had to give a certain columnist a piece of his mind about something he'd seen, if he could just find it again.

* * * * * * * * * *

Eddy Brock and Peter Parker exited the Bugle building and Peter immediately began trying to hail a cab, earning him an odd look from Mr. Brock.

"What are you doing? My truck's right over there." Eddie said with a small nod toward a bright red pickup truck.

"Oh, ok." peter said as he shrugged. 'I just automatically look for a cab or bus when I'm not web-slinging.' He thought as he entered on the passenger's side.

"Yeah, do you know where this is?" Brock handed him a scrap of paper with an address scribbled on it.

Looking intently at the address, or what he assumed was an address, the words weren't too legible… Peter suddenly saw what the scribble said, "Yeah, just hit 37TH and we'll get there in no time."

An hour later Peter and Brock exited the vehicle. 'Now I remember exactly _why_ I love web-slinging so much… besides the stress relief you can actually _get_ places.' Peter thought as he examined the structure of the old factory from the outside, 'This doesn't actually look too bad, I would have expected a lot more damage from fires… why is my spider-sense going so haywire? I can't see anything around that would cause it to go off.' Peter looked around for the danger as he snapped several photos of the building from the outside and Brock talked to a police officer that was on the spot.

"Hey, Parker!" Brock called, "Come on! This guy's gonna give us the tour."

The officer, Carl Fisher, was a short burly man with short hair and a face that looked almost animated. He took them inside the building, which had suffered minimal damage, and showed them the remains of a high-tech robotic manufacturing assembly line.

The machines appeared to have born the brunt of the damage and the officer told them that the explosive in question was probably geared towards electromagnetic damage and not incendiary. There was a good deal of 'smoke' damage, although it wasn't smoke per se, but synthetic dust-like particles, which had damaged the mechanical parts in the building.

"It's almost like whoever did this wanted to make it as expensive for whoever owns this place to repair, it would have been cheaper if the whole thing had burned down.." Officer Fisher said as he was winding down the tour.

"Thanks for the tour." Peter said, snapping a picture of the pleased surprise on the officer's face.

"Hey, it wasn't any problem for me, I have to take all the tape down now that the fire-martial's finished his preliminary investigation."

"That's kinda fast, to be finishing an investigation, don't you think?" Brock said, doing his investigative reporter thing.

"Well, it's obvious it wasn't arson, more like some high-tech terrorism or industrial sabotage and we've recorded all the evidence… all that's left to do is administration and paper-trail investigations." Fisher said, almost adding how much he hated paperwork, then he decided against it has he started to clean the site, removing the police tape and barriers that had been put in place for the investigation.

* * * * * * * * * *

The next day Peter Parker looked over the remains of a warehouse, one that had been storing some particularly expensive electronics for Oscorp while awaiting shipment overseas. 'This doesn't feel like the Goblin's work… he would destroy Oscorp's facilities but only for some gain. There seems to be nothing for him to gain here… or the other place that was flooded when the water pipes broke.'

"Parker!" Brock called as he craned his neck straining to see the photographer. "Did you get everything you need?"

"Yeah!" Peter shouted back as he snapped off a few more pictures.

Climbing down from his perch on the neighboring building using the fire escape, Peter thought to himself about these strange occurrences of destruction. It was infuriating actually, every source of information Spidy could dig up came up blank… there simply were no ties to tho Goblin or anyone else for that matter. 'I never thought it'd be difficult for me to do an investigation as Spider-Man but these are just out of my league and I don't know where to start.'

It was almost as if war had been declared by invisible opponents and these "accidents and losses" were the battle grounds in their secret war. Things were definitely going to come to a boil soon, though, Peter could feel it. Not as a tangible feeling like his spider-sense was, but more like that sinking feeling when you know somebody's going to tell you something they think you don't want to hear.

* * * * * * * * * *

That night, true to the feeling Spider-Man encountered the person responsible, or rather one of them…

Spider-Man landed on the building just as the Green Goblin flew past on his glider, this was followed by a sudden burst of his spider-sense and an explosion in the building he'd just laded on. It was a good thing the Goblin was confining his attacks to monetary damage rather than sheer destructive force as the building didn't actually explode but rather began to implode and crumble as the load bearing supports were damaged.

Spider-Man leapt off of the building as hard as he could, escaping the flames with a web-line and swinging to a nearby building. The Goblin was close and that was closer, but he couldn't help but think of his upcoming rent as he pulled out a camera and took several pictures of the still crumbling building before webbing off in pursuit of the Green Goblin.

* * * * * * * * * *

The Green Goblin laughed, that strike had been ridiculously easy to pull off, and he knew where that Latverian would strike next… he was almost certain of it anyway. He laughed again as he spun in a lazy loop followed by a barrel-roll and sped off toward Yeti, the codename of the Oscorp Industries Military Production Complex completely unaware of the small red and blue clothed figure of Spider-Man swinging below and behind him trying to keep up.

* * * * * * * * * *

Two robots converged on the Yeti Complex, unaware that they were already expected. Their master however, was not caught unawares, he had planned it perfectly, these two were expendable… if they accomplished their mission all the better, if they did not… well, not great loss, they would serve as an excellent distraction. Dr. Doom was actually quite pleased at matching wits with this Norman Osborne on a industrial/political battlefield. The few who could compete with his mind in matters of the more technical scientific nature, Reed Richards namely, would never in a million year see the subtleties and elegance of this war, it was so far beyond him that it was laughable.

Osborne no doubt knew about the two robots on their way, not that Doom had leaked the information as much as allowed it to be gained and reported before the informant was properly disposed of, and would take some measure of defense against it. There was also this Green Goblin, he seemed to be working for Norman Osborne, in fact, the only reason that the monarch dismissed the idea that the Green Goblin _was_ Norman Osborne was that the two had different voices, body language, and even thought patterns. There was a physical resemblance in body structure which led him to believe that the Green Goblin was a clone of Norman Osborne, probably genetically enhanced and perhaps technologically modified, although there seemed to be no information on Oscorp doing any cloning research they had done a fair amount of research in genetically modifying and enhancing existing bioforms.

Doom contemplated several things as he watched his satellite-fed television showing the events unfolding with only a bare second and a half of lag time, one of which was exactly which company to purchase in the city to properly attack Oscorp on the business competition end of this private war, its multifaceted aspects presented an adequate mental challenge for the time being. The other was how to rid himself of that unimaginative annoyance Reed Richards, the Quantum Lacuna Cannon seemed like a good idea, he would prepare it tomorrow, perhaps he could kill two birds with one stone and force Richards to take the place of his mother who was trapped in another dimension… it would take some careful calibration and would present a suitable challenge.

* * * * * * * * * *

The robots crashed through the inner gate as their cloaking fields terminated, the time for stealth had ended and the frontal assault was now at hand. There was a high-pitched him as high-power lasers and rapid-firing plasma cannons powered up from the nuclear fed batteries that was suddenly drowned out by a klaxon signaling a breach in security.

The robots proceeded to fire plasma charges into the obvious defenses, there would be more, but with the main series out of the way the robots would have a better chance of completing the mission. The glowing yellow-green of the bolts faded into a dim glowing red where the plasma met the metal guns. The robots would have heard screams of pain as rounds cooked off spraying gunners with shrapnel and killing others if they had been equipped with audio sensing equipment, but they weren't and their programming wouldn't have allowed for any mercy. They were the perfect devices to send in and wreak total havoc on ones enemies, and they had no consciences to hold them back.

That they weren't equipped with audio sensors meant that they didn't hear the goblin's jet-glider launch two slightly subsonic missiles, but it was unnecessary for them to hear it because they were alerted by the movement by video cameras mounted at odd angles all over their vaguely spider-like bodies. One turned an arm up and shot the incoming missiles with a high powered laser, programming noted that the weapon would be inoperable for another 46.3 seconds without incurring damage.

The Goblin went into a seines of barrel-rolls, loops, and zigzags to evade the oncoming plasma fire. It was only due to his enhanced reflexes that he was able to escape unscathed, though just barely. It seemed like the plasma weapons were on the verge of overheating, an excellent opportunity, thought the Goblin as he pulled out two incendiary grenades, primed them, held them for a few moments, and threw them into the robots. The grenades lit in mid air burning a bright white that would have left someone without eye protection hurting for an hour, and fell into the robotic monsters that would dare attack his property.

The grenades burned hot enough to melt through the robot's hull and into the machinery and electronics that lay beneath as it was supposed to. Just as he'd planned, these grenades were designed to burn through an Abrams tank lengthwise, so they should have been able to burn through the three and a half inches of alloy armor on the robots with ease. But then the robots did something that surprised him, they just refused to die, they wouldn't make this easy for him, but then no-one ever did.

Sitting down in a defensive position the two robots raised all twelve weapon covered legs into their firing positions and proceeded to fire at the Goblin and the complex. The Goblin swerved out of the way, mostly. His glider had been hit and he was going down fast, flying past the complex the glider caught the edge of the outer wall and threw it out from under his feet. Flying, with no control, at speeds of close to sixty miles per hour is unrecommended, to say the least. The Goblin was dead, even with enhanced reflexes, strength, and endurance he wouldn't be able to survive the sudden stop at the end of his flight.

'Oh My God!!' Norman Osborne thought as he suddenly found himself flying through the air, the Goblin had abandoned him, as if fleeing into the back of Norman's mind could save him from Norman's imminent death. Norman did the only thing he could aside from praying, he fainted.

It was then that help came, from a most unexpected source, Spider-Man caught him and used some creative web-slinging to drain off the excess kinetic energies, although it took him about six blocks to get back under some semblance of control.

"Well, Mr. Osborne. What's happening over there?" Spider-Man asked as he flipped up onto a building with the unconscious Norman Osborne dressed in his Green Goblin outfit. Spidy didn't expect an answer as he set the businessman down, at least he hopped it was the businessman and not the maniacal madman. For some reason Peter had always thought of the Green Goblin being separate from Norman Osborne, like some sort of mental parasite… he had been wondering how he could get Mr. Osborne to the right doctor, but it seemed like he couldn't do that without ruining what seemed to be his second family. It was because of this that Spider-Man was checking Norman for injuries when he woke up.

* * * * * * * * * *

Peter Parker sighed in relief again as he replayed the events of last night in his head, fortunately it had been Mr. Osborne who had woken up and not the Goblin, who would have just as soon taken his head off as speak to him. Norman Osborne knew that he owed the wall-crawling super-hero his life, he did remember the flying through the air, but not much of anything else. It was kind of disappointing to Peter that his search for the people responsible for all this mayhem wasn't really any closer even though he had one of them now, it would have been nice if Norman Osborne had remembered his, or rather the Goblin's, opponent. That would narrow it down a bit.

'Wait, if Mr. Osborne was one of the players, then… Doom, I should have guessed.' Peter felt a pain in his jaw and unclenched his teeth, 'It's so obvious, I could have saved hours of searching! Of course there was this whole string of messes, both the Goblin's and Doom's egos are too big to fit in the city together. But where is Doom?'

Peter leaned back in his chair and thought about the city, it was a big place to hide, and bigger for the man who could buy any two blocks of the city at the drop of a hat, but maybe there were some clues that he'd missed on his patrols and trying to find out exactly what had been happening… 'The first site! My spider-sense was going crazy, I couldn't keep from looking nervously around all the time I was there… I thought it was just the machinery, but I should have recognized Dr. Doom's handiwork.'

"Mr. Parker!" Dr. Connors's sudden address of him caught him by surprise and Peter almost jumped out of his chair. "Perhaps you would care to try this problem, as you are apparently already familiar enough with it to daydream in class."

Several students giggled, not out of any malicious intent, but because they thought it was funny. Peter got up and walked down to the board and began working the problem, he got it done fairly quickly with only one dead-end where he did the wrong thing.

"Thank you Mr. Parker." Dr. Connors said to him, and then to the entire class. "That's about all the time we have today, but I want you to read chapter four in the red book, chapter thirteen in the blue one, and it will help you if you read that little green booklet I handed out last class." Dismissing everyone from the classroom.

* * * * * * * * * *

An hour later Spider-Man was back at the first site, and sure enough the old spider-sense was ringing like a church-bell on Easter. Scouring the ground and floor in the building he found a hidden door, rather quickly and easily, but he didn't really question it, some good luck was bound to come his way once in a while.

He made his way down a flight of stairs and into a well lit hall that looked ominous somehow, probably because it opened directly into a large elliptical room that seemed stuffed with high-end speciality equipment, gadgets, doohickeys, and gizmos to the layman, heck even some of the most high-tech people would be hard pressed to discern the function of even half of the visible equipment.

"Ah, Spider-Man!" The voice sounded and Spider-Man swung a startled glance towards the voice. "So polite of you to come in before I had to call you. Too bad you won't be staying." Dr. Doom said as he hit the activation switch for the Quantum Lacuna Cannon.

He hadn't sensed Dr. Doom because his spider-sense was already screaming before he even entered the room, and the statement he'd shown had cost him the only chance he'd had to dodge the bright flash of brown-yellow light emitted by the Quantum Lacuna Cannon.

* * * * * * * * * *

Dr. Doom cocked his head in bewilderment as he watched the replay of the Quantum Lacuna Cannon test. Some boy wearing a massive backpack and wearing a yellow and black bandana had stepped out of the supply room and into the beam just as it enveloped both himself and Spider-Man. "How did he get in there?" was all Dr. Doom could ask for the next two minutes.

  


* * *

Author's Note:Spring break's over and I won't be able to spend nearly as much time on my creative writing. :(

But don't hesitate to review, cause it'll give me some motivation to get an update in once in a while.

Here's an excellent Spider-Man site, if you're interested: 

Comments & Criticisms are welcome.

efish@cs.nmsu.edu


	4. Hidden Movement

The Angst Team

Chapter 1: Hidden Movement

* * *

Fair Warning: This chapter is about the length of the intros. I hope you enjoy reading, 'cause I just got a pack of blank 3" x 5" cards to write character profiles and notes on.

* * *

Spider-Man winced at the not-quite pain. It felt every square inch of his body felt like it was asleep and had just been hit on a funny-bone. He stood there a moment watching this young man with a ridiculously large backpack and a bright yellow and black patterned bandanna collapse to the ground as if in slow motion before the view tilted first to the side and then more to the front as he watched the ground zoom up to meet his face. Odd though, he thought he smelt bacon frying or ham roasting, well some pork product… or maybe he was just experiencing those subconscious illusions as his mind retreated into the oblivion of unconsciousness.

------------------------------

Along the twisting road walked what one might describe as a cheerful looking with a smile that seemed to complement his features. While he didn't move with the weariness born of a lengthy journey he carried himself like someone who was used to traveling and most passerbys would note the only particularly odd thing about him was the walking staff he carried. It branched at the top at about the level of his armpit and in the crook of the 'Y' shape was a sizable red sphere. All in all, one would say that he appeared to be a nice guy… appearances are deceiving at times though, as he took pleasure in other's pain, dispar, and terror. He was in fact a Mazoku who went by the name Xellos.

Xellos wasn't particularly fond of his current task, he didn't care one way or the other really, he'd been rather indifferent about the whole thing. Being a messenger was actually in his job description and his Master, Mazoku Lord Zelas-Metallium, had wanted him to deliver this message to another Mazoku Lord, Dynast Grauscherra.

Xellos didn't know what the message related to, neither did he want to know. While he had almost always loved knowledge for it's intricate, delicate, and fine details, especially for its more manipulative factors, this was different. He could feel it in his bones, well the core of his existence. He didn't have bones to be precise, perhaps it was something of great importance, or perhaps not. If it was anything he should know he would find out soon enough. He looked to the south and slightly to the west, that was odd, the amount of magical energy being released… well, he couldn't investigate it right now, but he would definitely keep his eyes and ears open for news on what had caused _that_ disturbance.

------------------------------

Zel looked up at the sky for a moment as he completed the healing spell, the wind blew clouds in at a rate that looked more like it should be a time-lapse film and the sun was soon blocked out by dark clouds threatening both storm and rain, never having a chance to fully brighten up after the eclipse. Apparently the summoning was for rain, that was a lot of work for a sprinkle. Zel grimaced a little at his private little joke.

This was all he could do for the old mage, his healing spells weren't kept in that much practice as his body wasn't injured very easily at all. The last time he'd had a healing spell used on him had been shortly after that fiasco with Shabrandigo, Rodimus made it out of that alive… but Zolf hadn't. Rodimus was currently about as far away on the continent as was possible, investigating a potential cure for the chimera. Zel got up and instructed the Orphidians to carefully take the old mage to a place that would be safe from the upcoming storm.

Zel got to his feet and was about to follow the Orphidians when something caught his eye. There was actually somebody, well two somebodies in the magic circle. One was dressed in what might be some sort of costume for a masquerade ball or something of the sort if it weren't so _gaudy_, the other seemed to have on some more sensible attire, although it looked different than anything Zel had seen it was quite plain and looked very functional. Curious, Zel found himself trying to figure what these two exactly were. They looked human enough, but that Zel knew several beings that could look human, werewolves, certain high-level dragons, and other shape-shifters were just a few that came immediately to mind… and the others that didn't made even his blood run cold.

Zel quickly loosened the sword in the sheath at his side, as a precaution of course, and began to inspect the two, the first step was to remove the mask on the one… for some reason Zel had a feeling like he was invading privacy bu doing it. It couldn't really be helped he told himself. He quickly checked their breathing and pulse, they seemed fine for humans, but that didn't exclude the possibility of werewolves or shape-changers.

Zel blinked in surprise, _why_ would a summoning spell need to be so powerful to bring a couple of shape-changers… or, even more strange, seemingly normal humans. It didn't make any sense, none at all. He hoped that Galvanaas would be able to shed some light on the reasons they had been summoned.

After a quick check to see if they could be moved Zel got three other Orphidians to help him take them to wherever they had taken the mage. Zel and the Orphidians used the Orphidian's alpenstocks and Zel's cloak and shirt to improvise a pair of stretchers to transport the two. Zel lost himself in thought as he followed the Orphidians, helping carry the tail end of the second stretcher.

It wasn't all that far of a trek, but he didn't see the almost slightly crescent shaped cliff until they were right on it. Zel was amazed as he beheld a whole city carved into the face of the cliff wall. It was amazing, the cubic buildings looked to be the sturdiest that he'd ever seen, yet it seemed older than most buildings he'd seen, and looked positively ancient.

"What is this place?" Zel asked the Orphidian who was carrying the other end of the stretcher.

"Thisss isss tribe'sss home!" The Orphidian exclaimed in obvious pleasure and pride. "Massster brought usss here after sssaving usss."

Zel nodded in understanding. Apparently the mage had brought them here after rescuing them from some unknown plight and they'd made this place their home. That implied that these buildings had been here before that and Zel couldn't help but wonder at who would make such a city. The almost cubic styles of buildings and pathways carved into the cliff-face were quite different than any style he'd ever seen before, and he had seen many different styles in his travels, in fact it was different than any style that he'd even _heard_ of before.

The Orphidians led him to a building that looked like it may have once served a religious function. The floor was a shiny, glasslike obsidian inlaid with red and silver that seemed to make some sort of decoration that Zelgadiss couldn't make out because of the furnishings and equipment that littered the room. The Orphidians quickly ushered them into a medium square room that had a white floor with a black ring and in the center of the ring there was a black elongated rectangle with oddly placed and oriented grooves that sometimes crossed each other but in no discernable pattern. Galvanaas rested on a pallet that was pushed into a far corner and there were a few Orphidians hovering over him keeping a concerned watch that directed them to put the others in the other pallets that were against the wall.

After seeing that the three were properly resting Zelgadiss took his leave and started out to explore this fascinating place, perhaps the Orphidians kept a library here… or the previous tenants.

------------------------------

Erfren Maxwell looked up at the pair of large doors standing before him, he inhaled deeply as he cleared his mind as they had taught him in the earliest part of his training. In addition to giving a report to the council here in the Synodic Chambers it was time for his final test… the final rank would be his if he passed the seven tests.

His hand reached out absently, almost involuntarily, as he traced the image inset on the door, a red dragon that looked more like a snake with clawed talons at the end of it's short legs wrapped around a silver sword, the symbol of the Sentinels. It was this symbol that caused them to earn the name "The Cult of The Dragon And The Sword" or alternatively "The Serpent and the Sword", the Sentinels were there to defend the weak from the dark and so they were also called "The Defenders of Light", there were other names that they were called some good some downright hateful. In the end though it didn't matter much, the Sentinels would do their duty no matter what the world called them.

Erfren briefly skimmed over the history of the Sentinels in his mind. The Sentinels had been started four hundred years ago by a mysterious man, his name had been lost and was simply referred to as the Founder, who had gathered a group of men together for the express purpose of helping the innocent people of the world… the time had been full of turmoil and one of Shabrandigo's seven pieces had been loosed at the time. After nearly a year and a half of combat the piece had been split into two and the wars had continued for a time while the Sentinels helped save some cities from being overrun by the hoards of monsters that had been loosed, while other cities they helped by healing or providing what support they could all the while keeping their hidden power a secret, for it was not yet the time to reveal themselves, the Founder had warned them about it and made them swear to keep their power a secret until the time was right.

Unfortunately, the Founder mysteriously disappeared without a trace, before he could tell them what the right time was, and so they kept it a secret to this day hoping that they disguised it well enough, the whole organization was set up as a sort of international honorary social knighthood. They had even gone through the trouble of having branch offices and libraries in most of the prominent cities.

As individuals the Sentinels were spread out across the lands and held any number of occupations and official positions. It was remarkable that the rumors concerning them were only due to their secretive nature rather than the power they held, the Sentinels had alleviated most of the populace's fear and apprehension about them with their good works, humanitarian aid, and other social deeds.

Though it was hard keeping their power secret at times, in fact he'd nearly blown it in front of the man he was learning swordsmanship from, and he was very careful, he could only imagine what kind of excuses some of the others had made. Though it didn't make him feel any better that most of those reaching his rank had a few close calls like that.

Erfrin let out another long breath and stood back from the door as he thought he heard someone coming to open it. he looked down at his hands which had become suddenly sweaty and wiped them on the bottom of his jacket as he pulled it down again and stood there as the door silently opened of its own accord.

------------------------------

Zelgadiss found himself looking up into the cloudy sky as lightning and thunder crashed about and the rain fell at odd angles parallel to the cliff-face, he'd been watching the storm play with the landscape for hours as he lost his mind in thought. The ancient balcony he was on looked like it had seen a lot of use in its time, and he wondered if the stones here could talk what they would be able to tell him of this place, who had first made this cliff city? Where had they gone and why? How had they created this city, and why had they chosen a cliff to carve it from?

Zel looked back towards the doorway and wondered if Galvanaas was awake yet, he needed answers, not about this place but about himself and those two men that summoning spell had pulled here. Galvanaas, it seemed was the only one with answers, and for some reason Zel had the ominous feeling that those answers would only raise more questions. Questions like what that old prophecy had said and how he knew Zel was supposed to be this "Dark Warrior" and what exactly did that mean?

He wasn't going to be getting any answers just standing out here, but chances were that all three of them, Galvanaas and those other two, were still unconscious, Galvanaas from the Mozoku attack and the other two from the drain the summoning had put on them, but still Zel went to see if maybe one of them had recovered. He couldn't help but sigh though.

------------------------------

Xellos stepped up to the steel castle's cold doorway and rapped on it with the staff he was carrying, sure he could try to skip through the astral plane into Dynast's castle but there was no telling what kind of defenses that Lord Dynast had placed there, and doubtless any surprise would be an unpleasing one. So, Xellos simply walked up to the front door in the world of men.

It was somewhat unnerving to be so alone in the Frozen North Wastes, there was no life, only the snow and ice, Xellos couldn't remember how many types of snow and ice he'd seen in the past few days. There was fine, dusty snow, wet slushy snow, clean snow, dirty snow, and he didn't even want to know what had made that green snow that color. It was bad enough that his shoes had been stained, Xellos only hoped that the smell at least would come out.

Xellos raised his staff to rap on the door again when it opened on astonishingly quiet hinges and he was ushered inside by three living suits of bronze armor as the doors began to swing shut again.

"Lord Dynast awaits your presence." one of the armor suits said in a hollow voice that sounded like wind blowing through a hollow log, and then added, "Immediately."

"All right, all right." Xellos said as he smiled and laughed a bit waving the suit to lead him on, "Let's go then."

The suit turned and stoically led the other Mozoku down one of the hallways that had blue carpet with gold trim and all sorts of weaponry displayed on the walls, magical and not. Some even had plaques under them telling of the hero that had foolishly challenged the power of Lord Dynast and how their fate had been handed to them, more often than not, in a disturbingly violent manner.

------------------------------

Peter Parker woke up with a groan as consciousness slowly returned to him. It felt like he had a mild sunburn over his entire body. His first thought was of how dark it was, the cave-like blackness was so all-encompassing that he wondered if he'd opened his eyes and when he brought a finger to wipe some of the gunk that had encrusted the corner of his left eye he felt his gloved hand on his naked face. 'Oh, no! Did Dr. Doom… No, I don't think I'd be alive if he did, but where am I… and what happened?' He thought about it a moment before stirring as quietly as he could.

He tossed the coverlets back and felt along the wall, trying to find some clue as to where he was. His other hand went idly to the light he kept in his belt. 'Should I use it and give my position away, or should I wait and try to make it out of here without it?' Peter weighed the two options, while most people would argue that trying to find one's way out in total darkness was foolishness most people didn't have his spider-sense to guide them. With the light he could make quick work of things and probably get out in a fraction of the time it would take him relying on his spider-sense, but it would also make him a target, any light shed in total dark like this was a literally a lit sign announcing where he was. If anyone could have seen his face they would see him grinning as he made his choice and made his way up the wall.

------------------------------

"O-HO-HO-HO-HO!! A-HA-HA-HA!!"

The laugh echoed in the canyon, and even the echoes that were mere shadows of the original sent men fleeing in terror. The madness had come again. First it was a wild boar, then a small red-headed sorceress, and now this monstrosity… if this kept up the four horsemen of the apocalypse were due on Tuesday.

Kelama couldn't help but smile as the rest of the general populace cringed in terror to what he could easily turn a deaf ear to. It was amazing what people in general were scared of, some of it was with good cause, but most of it was trivial, unimportant, and, quite frankly, absurd.

Then Kelama caught sight of what was causing the disturbance to the population. A woman clad in, well it was almost easier to say she wasn't. Black long hair, frightening laugh, skimpy dresser… this had to be that Nega, Nagi, Naga? Naga. Yes, that was it, Naga.

Well, anyway, Naga was talking to one of the citizens of the town, or finished talking, it looked like the man would need several minutes to recover from the sonic bombardment, minutes that Naga apparently couldn't lose as she ran off, letting another of the laughs loose to give small children nightmares for weeks. Kelama almost burst into tears at that, maybe he should stay and get a few good meals after all.

Kelama walked up to the man Naga had been talking to and sat down next to him. He could wait for the man to recover to see what she had wanted, the emotions of terror and fear were practically running off this guy.

After maybe ten minutes of waiting the man finally tried to speak, "Thank you," shakily at first but firming up. "What do you want?"

Kelama looked off in the direction that Naga had gone and made a gesture, "I want to know what she was talking to you about."

The man nodded. "She wanted to know if Lina Inverse'd been here recently, and if she had where she'd gone."

Kelama looked thoughtfully at the man. "Lina Inverse you say?" He'd thought he'd connected Naga with that woman, but this cemented it, information like this wasn't exactly to be ignored… anyone that counted themselves as the rival of someone who had destroyed a piece of Shabrandigo shouldn't be taken too lightly.

The man nodded, "The one who almost blew up the Sentinel Library. I still have no idea how that giant fireball could do _no_ damage. None at all!"

Kelama's eyes widened a bit. He couldn't believe his luck, he had uncovered yet another clue, but again he was too late to make any personal, direct observations. It felt like he was always a step behind the action. 'Well, I suppose that's the nature of an investigation mission. It's amazing how little we have on these "Sentinels" after three hundred years of investigating. They keep their secret well, I'll give them that.' Kelama thought as he eyed the library, all of the Sentinel outposts were heavily shielded magically, but this even more so.

Kelama had been investigating the Sentinels for years now at the behest of his general, who was convinced that they could present a danger, and never found anything suggesting they were anything other than some kind of social organization. They had shown themselves as quite good at pulling small and semi-medium scale operations off behind the scenes, usually they were mop-up or relief missions, humanitarian work, but occasionally one would slip once in a while and give a hint of something _different_, that _something_ they were hiding.

Kelama wondered about what all the pieces of this puzzle would show. Would it show anything? Or were his superiors just being paranoid about these Sentinels? Well, maybe he should get some more information from this man… though it wouldn't do to suddenly switch topics, better to slowly direct him to the information he wanted. Besides, he could gater other useful information.

"Tell me about this incident with Lina Inverse." Kalma said comfortingly in a calm and yet strong tone.

The man shuddered as he recalled the horror, the horror that was a little girl. A little red haired girl with a temper named Lina Inverse.

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It was a good thing he'd decided to use the ceiling, Peter reflected as the door opened and two definitely non-human creatures entered followed closely by a third, more human appearing figure. The two inhuman creatures looked like over-large red-orange snakes despite obvious arms, legs, torsos and their short, stubby, semi-conical tails. The third looked like an artist's rendition of a dark-elf he'd seen once when he was playing a role-playing game with several acquaintances… that had been kinda fun despite being coerced into it by Harry and having his character killed off in the first battle.

Peter shook his head trying to clear it and focus on the task at hand, getting out of this place. Aunt May would undoubtably be worried if he was too late and he didn't want her to worry, not when he could help it. It was then, with a sudden clarity like a fog lifting, that he saw how he could get out without being detected. He scrambled across the ceiling towards the door as the trio passed beneath him and let himself fall when he reached the place overhead the doorway where the ceiling and wall met, grabbing the to p of the doorframe and sticking as he swung through the doorway using his wrists and flipping up and above the doorway and sticking to the wall in a crouch as he started to scan this next room.

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"You jellyfish for brains!" yelled a small girl with long red hair chasing an older guy who was, ironically, close to three times her size. Anybody who saw the scene and was not familiar with the dreaded Lina Inverse, would have laughed and gotten a stare from the small redhead that could freeze a blacksmith's forge.

The man, dressed in blue armor and with ridiculously long blond hair looked like he was trying to outrun Armageddon, and judging from the giant fireball that leapt from the small sorceress's hand maybe he was.1

"Wait! Lina, wait!" yelled another woman following the two, Sylphiel was hoping that she would be able to heal Gourry after that comment about eating like a whale Lina had gone ballistic. It wasn't like he'd meant anything by it, she could swear that Lina had been looking for some excuse to visit bodily punishment on the swordsman for the past few days, too bad that Lord Gourry had fallen straight in to her clutches, as usual.

That was when Gourry ran into a rather tall and impressive building, being chased by another of Lina's fireballs. Sylphiel groaned, this wasn't good, it was the main library of the Cult of the Sword and Dragon… well, maybe the local authorities would chalk this up to a monster attack, something that was happening more and more often where Lina Inverse traveled. It certainly kept the local bars full of stories for adventurers to feed off of, but if Lina ever found out that the bars and taverns were responsible for a major part of the gossip concerning her being a "Dragon Spooker" and the "Natural Enemy of All Who Live" she would probably leave them as nothing more than piles of dusty ashes. Thus they were self-fulfilling prophecies.

"Lina!"Sylphiel cried, finally catching the smaller girl- er - _woman_'s attention. "That was a library!"

Lina turned from Sylphiel back around to face the library expecting to find giant hellish flames flaring from the building. Instead all there was to be heard was a strangely uncanny silence which the undertones of the city trying unsuccessfully to break. Lina glanced back at Sylphiel wondering if she had an explanation of some sort, but the shrug she received said the other woman had no ideas regarding what was happening.

Lina was normally the impulsive one, but now she was a bit hesitant the power she'd put into that fireball would have easily started a raging fire, especially where there were a lot of flammable materiels… like a bunch of old, dry, dusty books. Finally she overcame her reluctance and decided that she would investigate, returning to her normal impulsive self as she burst into a run towards the door of the library.

Gourry, on the other hand, had been sure that it was the end for him when fo ran into the library, it didn't take a genius to tell that a fireball in an enclosed space with a few immediately inaccessible exits was not a good thing. He was even more sure of his impending doom when his foot slipped on the polished black surface of the floor and he felt the heat of the fireball rushing through the space he'd been occupying a moment ago.

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Zel followed the two Orphidians as they led him to the back room where Galvanaas and the two other men were. He rather wished that they would have taken up different positions in front of him though, the torchlight from the angles where they held them was preventing him from seeing as well as he could otherwise with his inhuman, cat-like, chimera eyes.

It was for that reason that he didn't see that one of the beds was empty until he was well in the room. 'Where did he go!?' Zelgadiss's mind raced; what were his intentions? What if he was an enemy? What were his abilities? What could he do? Would he even be safe alone if he was indeed an ally?

'One step at a time…' Zelgadis calmed himself almost instantly, then began instructing one of the Oriphidians, "Go see if you can find the man that was resting there," Zel gestured to the empty bed, "and bring him back to me."

Zel turned to the other one and instructed him to try to rouse the old Mage while he focused on the boy with the yellow bandana tied around his head.

The bandana-clad boy stirred for a moment and then rolled over clutching the blankets close and pulling them out from under Zelgadiss and sending the chimera tumbling to the floor.

Zel only stared at the sleeping form in surprise, he weighed nearly two-hundred and eighty pounds, and this boy had pulled the blanket out from under his feet with while still asleep!? This was incredible!

Zel tried again and agin to wake the sleeping boy up but the most he got was an incoherent mumbling before the voice drifted back into sleep. Frustrated, Zelgadiss took a deep breath and screamed "WAKE UP YOU!!"

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Lightning flashed, briefly illuminating the darkened desert landscape despite the torrential downpour. It was the kind of wind-driven rain that seemed almost warm when it impacted but quickly drained the heat away as the wind tore through any sort of protection short of solid housing. Had anyone been both close enough and looking in the right direction when the lightning flashed again they would have seen a figure in red and blue crawling up the side of the slightly curving cliff-face and into the night, though hardly anyone in their right mind would be out in such weather.

Peter Parker however, was very much in his right mind though, as he fled driven on by a great need. A nameless terror had settled on him after seeing those inhuman bodies moving with the grace born only of living things, he had to flee, to get away from those things… his mind would simply not allow him to accept them as reality, so he fled.

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The hand shot out with such surprising speed that Zelgadiss couldn't help but be hit by it. It also carried enough force that he couldn't help flying across the room. To say Zel was surprised would be an understatement, sure he knew this boy was strong when he pulled the blanket from under him… but _this_… this was enough force to shatter solid stone walls.

Ryoga's eyes flew open as his instinctive punch hit something _hard_. He didn't quite believe it, he'd always been a relatively light sleeper, you had to be when you camped in the wilderness more often than not. His stay in the hospital shouldn't have dulled his instincts _that_ much… it was then that he realized how bone tired he was, he felt like he'd been hit with a battleship after being deprived for sleep for five days and four nights, in other words he felt absolutely drained, and that was in addition to the weird tingle he felt, it was kinda like the stinging, tingling sensation you get after you've been hit in the face rather hard… only over his entire body instead of just one spot. It was decidedly uncomfortable.

Standing up, Ryoga looked around at the surroundings and realized that he was without a doubt lost again. He couldn't help but sigh, it was fate, he guessed, the terrible sense of direction that plagued his entire family… although there was this strange, almost tugging feeling in the back of his mind in addition to the absence of an urge to wander. It was something he wouldn't have noticed until it was gone, now he didn't feel as though he was being pulled into looking for something that was always around the next corner… instead he felt peace, except for that tugging feeling.

Zelgadiss stood and looked carefully at the person who'd flung him across the room so casually, like a small girl might throw a doll. He stood at nearly the same height, or rather he would if he weren't hunched over… he looked like someone pulling themselves out of a collapsed building or landslide or something.

Ryoga glared at the person, well he thought it was a person, it was black and had pointy ears and it's eyes were slitted… 'Am I in hell?' Ryoga thought as he eyed the other speciously, 'I'd have to get pretty lost to wind up _there_.'

"Who are you?" the black-skinned man said in what seemed to be an amalgamation of languages that Ryoga could understand only because of his vast linguistic knowledge and abilities gleaned from years on the road traveling from country to country.

"Ryoga Hibiki." he replied, waiting to see what he would do and preparing for the worst.

* * *

Author's Note #1: I originally wasn't going to include Gourry and the rest, this is for you Mr. Lemieux. (Mr. Lemieux is an avis Gourry fan.)

General Comments: I'm trying to keep the chapters long… which is not a _bad_ thing if I can keep them interesting. I figure I need write at length as well as smaller chapters. (Blame the likes of Robert Jordan for putting silly ideas like that in my head. If you don't understand that read the _Wheel of Time_ series… wait, don't do that, I shouldn't cause more people to get addicted.)

Comments & Criticisms are welcome.

efishcs.nmsu.edu


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